Plastics are used in diverse applications including containers, clothing, carpet materials, fiberfill and a multitude of other applications. In order to enhance the performance of plastics in certain applications, a coating may be applied to the plastic. A plastic may be coated to improve its strength, its permeability or another characteristic. For example, a barrier coating can be applied to thin walled plastic food and beverage containers thereby decreasing the permeability of the plastic to gas, such as carbon dioxide gas or oxygen gas. This is because food and beverage containers have a relatively short shelf life due to the entry of oxygen and loss of carbonation through the thin container walls. Barrier coated food and beverage containers exhibit a 10 to 30 fold shelf life increase over uncoated containers.
For several reasons, including cost effectiveness and environmental concerns, plastics are recycled. However, plastics having a coating cannot be efficiently recycled in some instances. This is particularly apparent for plastics having a barrier coating because the barrier-coated plastic becomes discolored or unclear upon melting. Recycled plastic which is discolored or unclear cannot be used to produce clear, colorless fibers, containers or other products unless they are subjected to extensive and additional processing. As a result, there is a need to remove coatings from plastic prior to recycling.